Favorite Breweries

Derek8404

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Visiting breweries is my absolute favorite thing to do and I’m currently sitting at NODA Brewing in Charlotte and was thinking about my favorite breweries. This one makes my favorite IPA (Hop Drop & Roll) which is why I came down here, but there are a lot of good breweries in NC. Some of my favorites in the state are, Wicked Weed, Foothills, Sierra Nevada and Oskar Blues. Probably my favorite brewery to go to ever is Real Ale in Blanco, TX. What are y’all’s?
 
Not in NC but close to Charlotte. Legal Remedy Brewing Co. In Rock Hill, SC
Give the Dubbel Jeopardy a try.
 
We nee to hang out.

Just got home from visiting Skull Camp in Elkin, awesome food pkus good brews.

living in Wilkes County were close to a lot of good ones.

Booneshine in Boone is one of our favs. Their black IPA is awesome, as is pretty much any other IPA they do.
Appalachian Mountain Brewing also in Boone. Long leaf ipa is by far my fav.
Lost province in Boone.
Blowing Rock brewing.
Kettel brewing in banner elk.
Beech Mountain brewery has a great brown ale.
Mountain Layers from Bryson City is awesome.

Out of Asheville, which we hit once a yewr for a tour..
Green Man, Wicked weed, Twin Leaf, Hi Wire, Asheville brewing. We alao like burial as well. Sierra Nevada is awesome, theyre brewery is like a play ground.

In Winston, Foothills is a good spot. We need to hit the others thete like Wise Man..body electric ipa..nom nom.

There are some good brews out in eastern nc..

I should mention, I am a big ipa guy. We are from the PacNW originally..home of awesome IPAs. Love good scotch ales too, and Black IPAs.

Beer is amazing.
 
We nee to hang out.

Just got home from visiting Skull Camp in Elkin, awesome food pkus good brews.

living in Wilkes County were close to a lot of good ones.

Booneshine in Boone is one of our favs. Their black IPA is awesome, as is pretty much any other IPA they do.
Appalachian Mountain Brewing also in Boone. Long leaf ipa is by far my fav.
Lost province in Boone.
Blowing Rock brewing.
Kettel brewing in banner elk.
Beech Mountain brewery has a great brown ale.
Mountain Layers from Bryson City is awesome.

Out of Asheville, which we hit once a yewr for a tour..
Green Man, Wicked weed, Twin Leaf, Hi Wire, Asheville brewing. We alao like burial as well. Sierra Nevada is awesome, theyre brewery is like a play ground.

In Winston, Foothills is a good spot. We need to hit the others thete like Wise Man..body electric ipa..nom nom.

There are some good brews out in eastern nc..

I should mention, I am a big ipa guy. We are from the PacNW originally..home of awesome IPAs. Love good scotch ales too, and Black IPAs.

Beer is amazing.


Sounds like we would get along. I am a huge IPA fan, pretty much all I drink for beer (unless I’m going for quantity, then it’s miller lite). Some budddies an I took a trip to Asheville this past summer and hit up all of those breweries, I think I forgot about Hi-wire but I believe it was one of my favorites of the trip.
 
Wife and I took a trip to Denver last November; that’s is a brewery paradise. We hit up, Epic, Oskar Blues, Avery, and a few other lesser known ones that were amazing.
 
Sounds like we would get along. I am a huge IPA fan, pretty much all I drink for beer (unless I’m going for quantity, then it’s miller lite). Some budddies an I took a trip to Asheville this past summer and hit up all of those breweries, I think I forgot about Hi-wire but I believe it was one of my favorites of the trip.

When you hit asheville, remember to do a half pint. We did the flight plus pint at a few..after like 5 breweries, your going sideways.. lol..

IPAs for the win!

More a fan of west coast ipas, wife prefers the ne style.. some are better than others there.

Will tell ya.. had like 15 different oktoberfeet beers this year...so many good ones!
 
We eat at Nattys every now and and then. We’ve gone to Wiseman in Winston a few times, good beer different food trucks and free live music on Saturdays. A band I like is playing there in February we’ll be there for sure.
 
Oh yeah, best IPA ever... Total Domination from Ninkasi out of Eugene, or.

Better than Pliny the Elder..whcih is good, but was more a fan if Blind Pig from Russian River Brewing.
 
When you hit asheville, remember to do a half pint. We did the flight plus pint at a few..after like 5 breweries, your going sideways.. lol..

IPAs for the win!

More a fan of west coast ipas, wife prefers the ne style.. some are better than others there.

Will tell ya.. had like 15 different oktoberfeet beers this year...so many good ones!


We would definitely get along then. I’m and a huge West coast fan and while some of the NE style are good, I’m tired of seeing that they’re all most breweries tend to make right now and looking forward to that trend fading out.
 
Should also add... Delicious IPa from stone is fantastic...but they are not 2a supporters. ;(
 
We would definitely get along then. I’m and a huge West coast fan and while some of the NE style are good, I’m tired of seeing that they’re all most breweries tend to make right now and looking forward to that trend fading out.

You need to find and try Long Leaf from AMB then.. soo good...

Also the Sierra Christmas ale this year is baller. Gonna buy a sixer to stash.
 
Oh yeah, best IPA ever... Total Domination from Ninkasi out of Eugene, or.

Better than Pliny the Elder..whcih is good, but was more a fan if Blind Pig from Russian River Brewing.

got a buddy stationed out in Temecula, CA and had a place near his house that he can get Russian River stuff. So I have a pretty regular supply of it being mailed out to me. Pliny is the excellent and Blind a pig is pretty good, but my absolute favorite from them is Happy Hops.
 
Should also add... Delicious IPa from stone is fantastic...but they are not 2a supporters. ;(
Eh, I’d venture to guess a lot of brewing companies aren’t big on the 2A
 
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got a buddy stationed out in Temecula, CA and had a place near his house that he can get Russian River stuff. So I have a pretty regular supply of it being mailed out to me. Pliny is the excellent and Blind a pig is pretty good, but my absolute favorite from them is Happy Hops.

Ok we need to hang.. i need some pliny fir giggles. Lol. My own brother wont send me some. Lol. Not had happy hops. I was a regular at the Horse Brass pub in portland for 15 years before moving here, so had a ton of good ipas over the years.. so good..
 
I LOVED the original Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Northern California when I lived there going to college and graduate school. Any and all of their beers were great.

Best one since then is the Weeping Radish Farm-Brewery in NC. Stumbled across it on vacation in the Outer Banks last year. I really enjoyed their Black Radish German Lager. Just wish I could get it here in SC!
 
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I remember the first time i had sierra nevada pale, in 1999., it was the hoppiest beer i think we had at that point. We were regular drinkers of Henry's Ale and ice aale.. then the brewery was sold to miller and brewed in tx. Wasnt the same. Portland Brewing made a great honey ale, and "mactarnahans" ale.. nom. Then Ranier and Kokanee were relegated to cleaning guns and mowing lawn beers.
Then micro brewing hit and it was insane. The Horse Brass always had a huge selection, but ended up with 50 plus beers on tap..rotating guest taps, but also a smokers haven, steel tip darts, scotch and bourbon...fish and chips..scotch eggs..

Memories...

Anyway..when I left PdX it was Beervana, 28 breweries in the city, dudes I went to high school with were and are master brewers at Pelican, HUB, etc.

I wasnt disappointed miving here, so many good breweries here.

Oh yeah, Deschutes from Bend is brewing in VA now. So weird seeing their stuff here. We drank the crap outta their pale ales back in the day.
 
Too many to list...

Local, probably Raleigh Brewing and Deep River...

Wise Man in Winston, Full Steam and Ponysaurus in Durham, Burial in Asheville, Oscar Blues now that they're brewing for Cigar City(and the original in Tampa). Funky Buddha in Ft Lauderdale, Terrapin in Athens, Spearfish Brewing in SD...

Just a few I've been to off the top of my head...
 
Sanctuary brewing in Hendersonville is the best. Especially in the summer when they brew the sour beers! Gingers revenge in Asheville is another good one. If ya want sometin different -dats da place.
 
Put this app on your phone- Untappd.

1. Too many North Carolina breweries to list. We have one here that has been around for some time. Old Hickory Breweries. Death By Hopps is a dark full bodied with high alcohol content. Hickory Stix is another dark. Red Ale is a nice one as well.

2. Wicked Weed in Asheville has four I like. Cold Mountain is their season beer only available to locations who feature theirs beers continually.

3. Hi Wire Brewery. A bunch of good brews. When the phone charges I will edit the post for some of their beers.

Appalachian State has a degree program for brewing now. I only drink craft beers. No American horse piss. If you are ever in Mooresville, NC visit Duckworth’s Grill. They have 60 taps and some excellent food. Beers from all over the nation. The place is a gold mine. They have expanded to multiple locations going south on I-77 including Huntersville and Charlotte. More info later.
 
Put this app on your phone- Untappd.

1. Too many North Carolina breweries to list. We have one here that has been around for some time. Old Hickory Breweries. Death By Hopps is a dark full bodied with high alcohol content. Hickory Stix is another dark. Red Ale is a nice one as well.

2. Wicked Weed in Asheville has four I like. Cold Mountain is their season beer only available to locations who feature theirs beers continually.

3. Hi Wire Brewery. A bunch of good brews. When the phone charges I will edit the post for some of their beers.

Appalachian State has a degree program for brewing now. I only drink craft beers. No American horse piss. If you are ever in Mooresville, NC visit Duckworth’s Grill. They have 60 taps and some excellent food. Beers from all over the nation. The place is a gold mine. They have expanded to multiple locations going south on I-77 including Huntersville and Charlotte. More info later.

I’ve had that app for years now, ever since it first came out. I like it a lot, you can subscribe to different locations and get a notification whenever they add something to the menu.
 
Foothills & RedOak.
 
I remember the first time i had sierra nevada pale, in 1999., it was the hoppiest beer i think we had at that point. We were regular drinkers of Henry's Ale and ice aale.. then the brewery was sold to miller and brewed in tx. Wasnt the same. Portland Brewing made a great honey ale, and "mactarnahans" ale.. nom. Then Ranier and Kokanee were relegated to cleaning guns and mowing lawn beers.
Then micro brewing hit and it was insane. The Horse Brass always had a huge selection, but ended up with 50 plus beers on tap..rotating guest taps, but also a smokers haven, steel tip darts, scotch and bourbon...fish and chips..scotch eggs..

Memories...

Anyway..when I left PdX it was Beervana, 28 breweries in the city, dudes I went to high school with were and are master brewers at Pelican, HUB, etc.

I wasnt disappointed miving here, so many good breweries here.

Oh yeah, Deschutes from Bend is brewing in VA now. So weird seeing their stuff here. We drank the crap outta their pale ales back in the day.

didn’t realize Deschutes has a location in VA now. I’m driving back through Roanoke tomorrow, might have to make a pit stop.

I’ve noticed in the past few years a lot of west coast breweries have opened places in the east coast.
 
didn’t realize Deschutes has a location in VA now. I’m driving back through Roanoke tomorrow, might have to make a pit stop.

I’ve noticed in the past few years a lot of west coast breweries have opened places in the east coast.

Ninkasi needs to have an east coast spot. Honesttly we were floored to see sierra nevada here when we came out to visit family in 2013...

There is just so many good breweries it is crazy!
 
Ninkasi needs to have an east coast spot. Honesttly we were floored to see sierra nevada here when we came out to visit family in 2013...

There is just so many good breweries it is crazy!

Stone has a brewery in Richmond. Green flash had one in VA Beach till they went out of business unfortunately
 
DuClaw which used to be located at Arundel Mills (I imagine it is still there), in Maryland, has a lot of good beers and the food is pretty darn good, too. @Derek8404, did you ever make it over that way? I feel like you were in the VA/MD area at some point in time.
 
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DuClaw which used to be located at Arundel Mills (I imagine it is still there), in Maryland, has a lot of good beers and the food is pretty darn good, too. @Derek8404, did you ever make it over that way? I feel like you were in the VA/MD area at some point in time.

I haven’t made it up for o Du claw yet, although we need to since my wife loves Sweet Baby Jesus.

Yes, we’re still up in the DMV area (unfortunately) live in Leesburg, VA and I work in Bethesda, MD.
 
Yeah, you should make a day trip when you can. My favorite is Dirty Little Freak, but Sweet Baby Jesus is a good one, too!

we’ll check it out sometime for sure. Wish I would have known it was up that way, we were at some breweries in Baltimore a couple months ago.
 
I am an ale guy, not a fan of the IPAs. Lonerider Brewery (Raleigh) has a really good brown called Sweet Josey
Aviator Brewery (Fuquay Varina) has a really good jalapeno pilsner
Carolina Brewery (Pittsboro,Chapel Hill) has a really good ale called Copperline
 
@Derek8404 , if you're still in Charlotte, try to visit Wooden Robot. It might be the best brewery in town, with NODA and Heist being the other two contenders. If you like Hop Drop, you would probably enjoy WR's "What He's Having".

@Jabroni , Longleaf is the only IPA that has earned a permanent spot in my fridge. There are others that I enjoy, but I keep going back to the Longleaf.

I'm also not a fan of the NEIPA's, with Heist's Citraquench'l and Cavendish's Foggy Mountain Cave-In being the only two I would actually buy. Most of the New England IPA's taste like a lame session IPA with grapefruit juice poured in it.

The "sleeper" breweries in the greater Charlotte area are Southern Range in Monroe, and Cavendish in - wait for it - Gastonia. Neither make any bad beer. The Octoberfest that Cavendish brewed this year is the best marzen I've ever tasted. Never imagined beer that good would be brewed in Gastonia.
 
I forgot about Highland brewing in asheville. They have git some good stuff. Not a fan of Cold Mountain though. Had a convo with a colleague about that beer a few weeks ago... we dont get it. Places have parties when they get it on tap like its the best thing ever. Big meh. Kinda plain IMO. Their AVL IPA and Gaelic ale are awesome.

Aviator mentioned above is good too.. the red ale they do is fantastic.

Should add, the best Oktoberfests I had this year were from AMB, Skull Camp, and Mountain Layers, and also blowing Rock brewing. There were others that were good, but these stood out.
 
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@Derek8404 , if you're still in Charlotte, try to visit Wooden Robot. It might be the best brewery in town, with NODA and Heist being the other two contenders. If you like Hop Drop, you would probably enjoy WR's "What He's Having".

@Jabroni , Longleaf is the only IPA that has earned a permanent spot in my fridge. There are others that I enjoy, but I keep going back to the Longleaf.

I'm also not a fan of the NEIPA's, with Heist's Citraquench'l and Cavendish's Foggy Mountain Cave-In being the only two I would actually buy. Most of the New England IPA's taste like a lame session IPA with grapefruit juice poured in it.

The "sleeper" breweries in the greater Charlotte area are Southern Range in Monroe, and Cavendish in - wait for it - Gastonia. Neither make any bad beer. The Octoberfest that Cavendish brewed this year is the best marzen I've ever tasted. Never imagined beer that good would be brewed in Gastonia.

I’ll have to give it a shot next time I come down. We’re staying at my in-laws in Clemmons and I just had to get out of the house yesterday so I did some driving around and ended up in Charlotte.
 
Picked up a few 4 packs of Hop Drop yesterday. You could say it is pretty fresh....

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Living in Asheville, I've lost count. There are over 50 breweries within 15 miles of our house, many are favorites.

The best thing is we have made a whole circle of friends at the breweries, and gather at different breweries on a schedule, which typically aligns with the different specials breweries have, such as $3 pint nights. Some favorites we have trouble working into our schedule, so wife announced where we are going this afternoon.

Favorites and honorable mention, both the beer and vibe contribute to ranking
Hi-Wire
French Broad
Pisgah
Sierra Nevada
Zillicoah
Oyster House
Bhramari
Turgua
........ and many many more.
 
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